Lifestyle & Leisure

AUTHOR

OBGOLF

05 October 2018

From Haikou to Sanya

On September 4-9, members of the Southeast Asian golf media were invited to visit Hainan Island for a golf familiarization trip (FAM trip). The purpose of the FAM trip program is to showcase the area's offerings and raise the profile of the area so that more high-end tourists choose to spend their vacation time there.

This FAM trip, organized by Nice Golf and GolfPlus One, was the first for the South-east Asian golf media community. Seeing the packed itinerary, it was understanda-ble why it was scheduled to take up six days.

Arriving at Haikou Meilan International Airport, the invited members of the media, consisting of Indonesian and Singaporean journalists, were transferred to Mission Hills Haikou Hotel to spend the afternoon and night in 5-star art deco luxury. This was the first of many interesting places that would be visited over the next six days of the FAM trip. Malaysian and Thai journalists arrived in the afternoon from their respective countries to join the Indonesian and Singaporean delegates.

While at Mission Hills Haikou hotel, all delegates were given the opportunity to play their first of many courses on the trip, the resort’s premium Blackstone Course which is famed throughout the world. From Haikou in the North, the media dele-gates moved on to Chengmai to the northwest of the island. Then, the group went to Boao on the East Coast of Hainan and travelled along the East Coast to Wanning. Af-ter spending a night in Wanning, the group proceeded to their final destination, Baoting, before the six-day golf trip finally ended in Sanya.

In addition to Blackstone Course, all of the trip members enjoyed the experience of playing some of the region’s most popular golf courses: R&F Mangrove Bay (Chengmai), West Course of the Dunes at Shenzhou (Wanning), the No.4 golf course in Asia 2017, Sanya Forest Valley Golf Course (Sanya), and Luhuitou Golf Course (Sanya). That was not all on the agenda, the tour included a visit to Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Club (Wanning), one of the best golf courses in China, Dragon Valley Golf Club (Sanya), and Luhuitou (Sanya).

“The golf industry has been developed for about 28 years, there are about 45 golf clubs with different styles and quality, so our government want to promote Hainan to golfers worldwide, especially Southeast Asia, due to the nearby countries around Hainan, and seven direct flight lines every week with these four countries. We invit-ed the golf media to visit Hainan, to get the first-hand information, and hope they will show it to the golfers in their countries,” said Shirley Yip, Deputy Executive Pres-ident of Hainan Golf Culture & Sports International Marketing Association.

The Hainan Government, through their Hainan Tourism Development Commission, believe that the FAM Trip program forms a very important part of their tourism agenda. Coordinating with the Haikou Tourism Development Commission, the Wan-ning Tourism Development Commission, and the Sanya Tourism Development Com-mission welcomed all of the Southeast Asian media delegates on arrival and also held a closing event.

“The government regarded this an important chance to show the rich, unique, and high-quality resources of the Hainan golf tourism industry to the Southeast Asia golf-ers, and gave this FAM trip a strong support. Hainan Tourism Development Commis-sion, Haikou Tourism Development Commission, the Wanning Tourism Development Commission, the Sanya Tourism Development Commission all gave their warm wel-come,” said Shirley Yip, who is also the Executive Director and General Manager of Haikou Nice Golf.

The long and tiring six-day journey around the area paid off with the experience of playing various fields and experiencing the advantages of each challenge, and also with the chance to enjoy the luxurious hotels and resorts prepared by the organizers. This FAM trip was quite impressive.